Breathing Out and In

Even though it's right under my nose, I rarely notice my breath. My breath has the intelligence to flow into my lungs, passing life-giving oxygen into my blood stream so that every cell of my body can receive life, energy, and vitality. My breath also carries used-up air and other waste products out of my body, creating space for the new, fresh breath to come in.

I think of my breath as beginning with an inhalation, but of course, my breath began only once, at the beginning of my life, and since then has been a constant cycle of energy out of and into my body. I find it refreshing to think of the breath as flowing out and in. If I begin my breath cycle with a mindful deep exhalation, I clear the way for a fuller intake of breath to complete it. I can even engage my abdominal muscles to push more used-up air out of my lungs and get an abdominal workout with each breath. Breathe out, and in. If you make your exhalation twice as long as the in-breath, you are doing 2 to 1 breathing, a technique recommended by psychologists for stage fright and other forms of anxiety.

Slow, deepful, mindful, regular breaths enlist the powers of my parasympathetic nervous system to calm my body and promote the work of digestion, elimination, reproduction, and other sacred tasks my body is responsible for. I can warm my body, soothe my frazzled mind, ease myself into restful sleep, and clear my thinking, just by bringing my attention to my breath.